Written in the Stars
by ihadadate
Summary: Maureen Shepherd always knew she was different, her grandfather had always told her that, but she never knew what he had met until she turned eight years old. Now it's 1962, almost seven years later, and Charles Xavier and Erik Lehsnherr recruits fifteen year old Maureen to help them stop Sebastian Shaw who is trying to start World War III. Part one of Seasons Come and Go. XMFC.
1. prologue

**Author's note:** Hello! This is a new series I'm going to start up in the X-Men category called "Seasons Come and Go (But I Will Never Change)" universe! It's going to be about a young mutant named Maureen Shepherd, and how she comes to be a part of mutants with abilities just like her. This is the first part, called "Written in the Stars", and it takes place in X-Men: First Class. I know this will extend to X-Men: Days of Future Past but if it's going to extend to the original X-Men trilogy, I'm not sure yet. (Though, it would probably be AU, due to Days of Future Past perhaps?)

* * *

Maureen Shepherd always knew she was different, and it wasn't just because she had dark brown hair and grey eyes while the rest of her family were blonde haired, blue eyed beauties. When Maureen was young, her grandfather used to tell her she was special, in more ways then she could imagine and that one day she would have special gifts that she would have to make wise decisions with. Would she control her gifts, or would her gifts control her?

Maureen didn't understand what he met then, but she promised she would always do the right thing, which could be a very hard thing to do. But when was around eight years old, she wondered if this was what her grandfather had met.

When Maureen was eight, she discovered that she was a mutant. She didn't know that was the term she would refer to herself as years later, but she had discovered one of her many gifts then.

It happened on a school day. Maureen was getting picked on again. Someone threw a rock at her and she held her hands up as if she was trying to protect herself. She was waiting for the blow, but it never came. Curious, Maureen opened her eyes she has squeezed shut and her hands went down, to see that the rock was frozen in midair, close to her. She stared at the miracle with wide eyes.

"She's a freak!" one of the kids said.

Maureen soon realized that the kids who were harassing her were still there, who witnessed what she had done. She started to run away from them. They were chasing her.

"Get back here, freak!"

Maureen was scared and her self esteem seemed to be lowering by the minute. She was a freak. A freak that could freeze things.

But that wasn't all she could do.

On that very same day, Maureen discovered her second ability. She could blow stuff up.

This incident happened during dinner. Her mother and father were arguing, and her father was about to strike her mother.

Maureen held out her hands in a gesture as if she could stop her father. She cried out, "No, stop!" at the bottle in her father's hand exploded.

No one spoke for a moment. The three of them were in shock and it was silent, saving Maureen's little brother Tommy was banging the table with his spoon. His mouth was full of babbles and he seemed amazed to see what his big sister could do.

Then, it was her father who spoke.

"You _freak_," he spat as he dangerously crossed over to his daughter.

"Thomas, no!" cried Maureen's mother, who was going to go after him. "Don't hurt her!"

That set Maureen in a panicked alarm. Her father was going to hurt her! Suddenly, everyone in the entire room froze and the cabinets started to blow open. Maureen knew she was doing this, but she couldn't stop it! She wanted to, but she couldn't figure out how. In the end, she hid behind her mother just as everyone in the room started to move again.

Maureen's father turned on his heel, glaring dangerously at the mother and daughter, who held each other very tightly.

"You fucking witch," spat Maureen's father again. "I'm not having a freak living in my home!"

"Then go!" Maureen's mother shouted. "I am never kicking my daughter! She's nine years old, Thomas. She's your daughter!"

"That little bitch is no daughter of mine, not while she's sick!" Maureen's father said. Maureen's eyes burned with tears. Her father thought she was a freak. Her father thought something was wrong with her. Maybe, just maybe, he was right.

As Maureen heard the door slam, her little brother started wailing, and she had silent tears streaming down her face.

* * *

Four years after her father left the family, Maureen was thirteen. Her brother was five and was starting school. Her mother was still beautiful.

Just three days after her thirteenth birthday, Maureen discovered another part of her mutation.

One day, Maureen was in school and was taking a test during her fourth period. She was writing down her answer when a hot flash went through her, and she saw something.

It was a vision.

The vision went like this. Maureen was helping her little brother with his homework at home. She could tell because of the hair colors.

Suddenly, Maureen looked up, and she seemed a little older, perhaps she was fifteen or sixteen years old. She glanced at Tommy and said something, then skidded out to the living room, where her mother was at the door with two men who looked to be in their late twenties or early thirties.

They wanted her.

_"Miss. Shepherd!"_

Maureen snapped back into reality. She was in a classroom, she was in school. She was taking a test.

"Maureen, are you well?" her teacher asked. Maureen nodded, and she went back to her test.

Little did she know was that two years later, the men came for her.


	2. chapter one

_Little did she know was that two years later, the men came for her._

Maureen was busy helping her now eight year old brother Tommy with his homework. His dyslexia made it very hard for him to read sometimes and Maureen was the excellent reader in the family, so she was the one that usually did this with him. That could have been because their mother often had a double shift, but the Shepherd siblings didn't mind at all.

It was mid afternoon. Maureen got out at 2:05, and her brother got out of his school at 3:15. It must have been an hour later when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Maureen's mother shouted. Today, she actually had the day off.

Maureen loved her mother, she really did. She looked up to her, seeing her as a strong, brave, and independent woman who had a husband who abandoned her and her children, working to pay bills (that Maureen often helped out with by babysitting), and having a freak like Maureen as a daughter.

"Maureen! There's some men here to see you. Did you get in trouble again?"

Maureen froze. She knew this could be two possible things: that the men came for her (she got a lot more visions of them coming more recently) or the fact that she was in fact, in trouble again.

Maureen had what you may call a temper. Sure, she was a quiet and generally described as a nice and sweet girl, but sometimes when she got picked on too much, she could snap.

The most recent incident happened last week. Maureen remembered because it concerned about her family, about Tommy.

Maureen glanced at her brother, who was looking at her.

"I'll be right back," Maureen promised, ruffling his unruly hair before leaving him to go visit these two mysterious men.

Maureen walked into the room where her mother and two men were sitting. They seemed to be having a conversation. Maureen didn't know what the men looked like, because their backs were facing her.

"You called for me, mother?"

Maureen's mother looked up and the two men turned their heads to face her. One of them had bright blue eyes and dark hair that was longer than the other man's, who seemed to be taller. Both of them seemed attractive, but Maureen wasn't interested in any way at all. They were too old for her, for starters.

"Hello Maureen, I'm Charles Xavier and this is my partner, Erik," the man with the bright blue eyes greeted the fifteen year old. "We're here because we want to talk to you about your mutation."

Maureen felt herself tighten up. They knew about her abilities? No one besides her mom and possibly her brother knew about them.

"I...I knew you were going to come for me," Maureen admitted. "Are you going to take me away?"

"Sit down and we'll talk," said the man who introduced himself as Charles Xavier. Maureen did as what he suggested, sitting close to her mother.

"Now, Maureen, how did you know that Erik and I were coming for you?" Charles asked.

Maureen didn't know if she should tell them or not. She looked over to her mother questioningly.

Maureen's mother nodded encouragingly. "Go on Maureen."

Maureen hesitated. Could she really tell them? If she did, what would they do to her? Would they take her away? Would they do things to her?

_It's alright Maureen, you can trust us._

Maureen's eyes widen. It was Charles's voice, but Charles wasn't speaking.

"Did you—?"

"I am a telepath, Maureen. We're just like you, Erik and I. You can trust us."

Maureen glanced over at Erik. "Alright, what can he do?"

Maureen heard her mother gasp, and she turned to see that her mother's necklace was hanging in the air.

"I can manipulate metal," came Erik's answer, Maureen looked backed at the men. She was ready to answer.

"Alright, I knew because about two years ago I got a vision of two men coming here," Maureen explained. "I didn't see their faces, but now I can assume that they are you."

"You had a vision of us coming?" Erik asked.

Maureen nodded. "I did."

"And can you do anything else?"

Maureen shrugged, but her mother coaxed her into letting them know.

"Yes. I can freeze and make things explode."

* * *

The men came for Maureen because of her gifts, yes, but they wanted to recruit her and take her back to a place that involved the CIA. They were going after a man by the name of Sebastian Shaw and by the way Maureen can sense Erik's emotions, he was an enemy. A big one.

"The government is involved?" Maureen's mother asked. If the government was involved, neither Shepherd woman knew how to feel about that.

"No," Erik answered. "Not for all of it."

"What he means is that while they're involved on recruiting mutants, we'll be handling Shaw alone," Charles explained.

"And you want to recruit my daughter in this?"

"Precisely," Erik answered.

"We will keep your daughter safe, I promise you that, Ms. Shepherd," Charles said. Maureen felt his curiosity in her, and how he genuinely wanted to help her. "While she's with us, she can learn to control her mutations."

Maureen nodded to herself, thinking about all of this. The word mutation also caught her.

"You keep saying the word mutant, Mr. Xavier. What's a mutant?" she asked the telepath.

"A mutant is someone like us, someone with abilities," Charles answered the young girl.

_Oh. A mutant is a freak._

"We are no freaks, Miss. Shepherd," said Charles, who could read the young girl's mind. He could see how she was reluctant about this. As he probed into her mind (which Maureen gave him the permission to. Charles could see that she trusted him to some sort of extent.), he wondered if it was because of her father that made her feel this way. If those children that had picked on her made her feel this way. He was sure that the other recruits he and Erik had picked out would make her feel more...self-confident about herself, if she chose to go with them.

"And you _really_ want to help me?" Maureen asked them. "If I went with you?"

"If you help us, we'll help you," replied Erik.

Maureen thought about it.

"Mom, what do you think?"

"I think it would be wonderful that you can learn how to control your abilities," Maureen's mother told her. "I just remember that last week, the salad bowl exploded while you were making the salad!" she added half-heartedly.

Maureen smiled at that. She did, and she got salad dressing and green lettuce all over herself.

"Alright," Maureen looked at Charles and Erik. "I'll go with you."

She swore that their eyes (at least Charles' did) brighten up when she said this.


	3. chapter two

**Author's note:** Alright, here's chapter two! Don't worry, the chapters will be longer.

* * *

Charles and Erik had explained to Maureen that they were going to pick up one more mutant, and that they needed her assistance.

That's why Maureen was standing inside an aquarium at the moment, staring at fish in one of the exhibits. They were clown fish, Maureen guessed. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to live in the water, as if she was an underwater creature. She always wanted to be a kraken or a siren.

"You seem to be staring at those fish hard."

Maureen felt herself jump when she heard the voice, and looked around for the source. She found to her left that there was a teenaged boy who was taller than her. He had red hair and freckles, but you had to look close enough to see them. He could have been no more but just a few years older than her.

Maureen swallowed. What could she say to this boy? Was this the mutant that Charles and Erik wanted to find? Her instincts told her to keep talking to the older teen.

Heart thumping, Maureen answered. "I find things underwater fascinating. I like fish."

Immediately Maureen wanted to kick herself. What kind of answer was that?

"Hm. That's crazy," the boy began. "You like fish and I like fish too. Maybe we should get a bite sometime and talk about it," he ended, rolling his head and tilting it down to face her. She was really short compared to him, as she was to everyone.

Maureen wanted to laugh. That was one of the most...pathetic pick up lines she ever heard, but she thought it was a little humorous. She hoped that he realized that she was a little young for him.

"I'd rather go out with the fish," Maureen told the redhead, a little sarcasm and humor oozing in her voice, looking at him sincerely. She decided that she had enough of this little amusing counter; she turned to walk away, when she heard a high pitched whistling sound.

"These fish?" the boy asked, and Maureen turned around. She found that the fish they were both observing to have disappeared from sight. The young girl had some sort of smirk appear on her face, figuring out that yes, this must be the boy Charles and Erik told her about.

"Is that what you like to do? Scare all the fish away with your ability?" Maureen wondered with some curiosity, and she watched the boy's face become pale, just as Charles and Erik came up behind her.

"Thank you, Maureen," said Charles, before he and Erik started to talk to the boy.

* * *

On their way to the CIA, Maureen found out that the boy's name was Sean Cassidy and that yes, he liked to scare the fish away. He was seventeen years old and he still lived with his family. Maureen thought he was funny.

"So, how old are you Maureen?" Sean asked her.

"I'm fifteen," she replied.

"You're too young for me," Sean replied almost suddenly. "You're good looking, but you're too young for me, even though we're two years apart. Are you being serious? Was I hitting on a fifteen year old girl?"

"You weren't doing a very good job at it," Maureen admitted. "Is that how you talk to women? If so, you need to do better."

Maureen could hear Charles chuckle softly to himself and could feel that Erik was a bit annoyed at her and Sean for chattering so much, as time went on.

"What can you do?" Sean asked.

"I can freeze things in place and blow stuff up," Maureen answered. She's already seen what he can do (sort of); she thought it was fair enough that she can share too. "I also get visions. I can see future events."

"Can you show me?"

"Maybe later," Maureen promised, as they continued to play their game of twenty questions.

* * *

They arrived late that night, so Maureen and Sean wouldn't be able to meet the others until tomorrow.

Maureen had a feeling that she and Sean would become good friends, and that she would make new ones for one of the first times in her life. Friends that would accept her. She couldn't wait.

* * *

Maureen actually didn't sleep that night.

After Charles showed her where she would be staying, she thanked him and got ready for bed when he left. When Maureen finally laid down at eleven-thirty, she just stared up at the ceiling. She thought of her mother and she thought of Tommy. Who was going to help her mother and watch Tommy while she was away? Mrs. Roberts from next door? Maureen shuddered at the thought.

Maureen thinks she probably did fall asleep for about an hour or two, but then she was wide awake once more and got ready for the day. She was anxious about meeting the others today. Would they like her? The only other person she knew here besides Charles and Erik was Sean, but who knew? Sean might not want to be her friend anymore after they meet the others.

Just as Maureen gathered up her courage to go out there to meet the others, there was a friendly knock at her door.

_It's now or never,_ Maureen thought to herself. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and there stood a pretty blonde girl.

"Hi! I'm Raven, Charles's sister," the blonde greeted.

Maureen blurted the first thing that came to her mind. "Charles has a sister?" Then she turned red in embarrassment. Maureen really needed to work on her filter and her mouth. She really hoped that she didn't offend this girl who seemed to be nice and genuine to her.

Apparently, Raven didn't seem offended and let out a small laugh. Maureen felt like she was laughing at her, but she didn't get that feeling her Raven being nasty to her like some girls were at her former high school. (Could she say that? She knew she wasn't going to continue on her education anytime soon, if she was trying to stop a man that was up to no good.)

"Yes. Technically speaking, I'm his foster sister," Raven smiled at her. Maureen smiled back at her, the nervousness started to ebb away.

"My name is Maureen, Maureen Shepherd," Maureen introduced herself, offering Raven her hand who took it...and dragged Maureen with her down the hall. It wasn't a forceful gesture; Maureen could feel the friendliness coming off of Raven.

"Charles told me about you. He mentioned how terrified you felt, too. You don't need to be scared, we're all really nice," Raven assured the young teenager. "Well, Alex can be a little moody, but I think he was in confinement."

"Oh," is what came out of Maureen's mouth, and she wanted to slap her palm against her forehead. _Oh? Really, Maureen? **Oh?**_

When Raven took her to the rec room, it was empty accept for themselves.

"The others are coming soon, and Charles, Erik, and Moira already left," Raven explained.

Maureen nodded, but she didn't know who Moira was.

"Are you hungry?" Raven asked. "We'll have breakfast once everyone is up and ready, but you can eat now if you want."

"No, I'm good," Maureen answered. "But thank you though, you're very kind." Raven smiled at that.

"Raven, are you a—a..." Maureen trailed off, not knowing how to ask.

"Am I a mutant?" Raven guessed Maureen's question, who nodded. "Yes, I am. All of us here are. Well, except for the agents, but they won't bother us. Do you want to sit down?" she asked her new young friend, who nodded. Raven assumed she did that a lot, and it reminded her of Hank.

The two girls sat on the sofas and talked. Well, Raven did most of the talking, while Maureen nodded yes or no, or replied in short answers. She did build up courage while they talked, and asked Raven a few questions of her own.

_Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here,_ Maureen thought.

It was a little later, but more people started to file in. Maureen took note of how everyone with them was young. The one with the glasses that had dark hair must have been Hank, who worked in Division X. Raven talked about him a lot. Then there was a dark skinned man who looked like he could be the oldest out of everyone in the room. His eyes shone with kindness. Then there was a blond haired boy with a black leather jacket on, and Maureen assumed it was Alex, the one that was apparently in confinement. There was another woman here among her and Raven. She had wings tattooed on her body. Then the last one was Sean, who waved at his young friend. Maureen gave a small wave back. She could feel her palms getting clammy once more as they all took in her appearance.

"Who's this?" Hank asked, checking the young girl out. Maureen could feel her stomach dropping. She opened her mouth to speak, but Raven beat her to it.

"This is Maureen, she came here last night with that one," Raven told the group, pointing towards Sean.

Alex snorted. "She came here with the redhead?"

"Yes," Maureen snapped immediately, scowling. She felt like she was being mocked, and she didn't like that. "Is there a problem with that?"

Raven and a few others laughed. Maureen felt her face burn and she looked away from the group. She was a fool with a sharp tongue.

"Maureen, it's okay," said a male voice, and she looked to see that it was the dark skinned man talking to her. She felt like she could trust him.

"Alex can act like that sometimes when he's jealous," he continued, joking, which made Alex snap his head at him. "I'm Darwin."

"Hi," Maureen answered quietly, not sure if there were tears threatening to come out of her eyes. She was just so terrified of the thought of this whole meeting! She took a couple of breaths, reassuring herself in her mind that everything was alright. No one would hurt her here.

"And so she speaks!" cried Sean, which made Maureen smile just a bit.

"I'm Angel," said the girl with the tattoos. If Maureen's mother was here, she wouldn't like that and if her father was still in the picture, she would be terrified of what he would think about her talking to both the girl and Darwin.

Maureen was terrified yet again, but she reminded herself that her father wasn't here. He abandoned the family years ago when she discovered she was a mutant, as Charles and Raven have said to her before. She liked that word. Mutant.

"And I'm Hank McCoy," said the final one, that Maureen already recognized.

"I know who you are," Maureen said to him, her voice louder this time. "Hello to all of you."

* * *

After they all had lunch, the six mutants all sat down together. Alex and Sean sat in separate chairs, Darwin, Angel, and Maureen sat on one sofa together while Raven and Hank sat across from them on the other. For the first time in her life, Maureen felt like she belonged somewhere and she could feel that the others felt similar emotions.

"We should think of code names," said Raven. "We're all government agents now we should all have secret code names. I want to be called Mystique."

"Damn, I wanted to be called Mystique!" said Sean in a sarcastic voice. Some of the people in the room laughed at that.

"Well tough, I called it," Raven retorted. Then suddenly before Maureen's eyes, flashes of blue scales flickered throughout Raven's body and...Sean was there. The Sean that sat next to Maureen flinched back in his chair, startled. The others seemed to be in similar states, taking in Raven's ability.

"And I'm way more mysterious than you," said Raven, imitating Sean's voice.

"You can shape shift," Maureen stated her smiling, as everyone in the room clapped. "Raven, that's really cool."

"Thank you," said Raven who changed back into her original form (which made Maureen wonder if she was still shape shifting, but she didn't ask). "What can you do Maureen?"

"Oh, um," Maureen scratched the back of her head, suddenly nervous. What could she show? She glanced down at her cup of cola, and smiled. She had an idea.

"Well, I can do this," she started, and tipped her glass. Before its containment could spill, Maureen threw out her left hand and the cup froze the soda too.

"You freeze things?" Darwin asked.

"Yup," Maureen answered. She liked Darwin, thinking of him as some sort of big brother figure. She moved the cup back to its base because after a short while, the spell would break and the glass would eventually fall, spilling its containment on the table. She then glanced at Sean who picked up his bottle and started to drink out of it. A mischievous smile stretched on Maureen's face.

"And I can also do this," she added, throwing her right hand out towards Sean and evidently blew his bottle up, his cola splattering on his shirt, and on Maureen just a bit as well. Everyone in the room laughed.

"No fair," Sean pouted, but Maureen offered him her glass and he gladly took it.

"I can also get visions," Maureen added. "I can see the future, but I have no idea if I can look back in time, either. I need to touch an object so my power can trigger."

"That's cool," said Alex. "You're like a little witch."

"Thank you, but I really don't know what to call myself yet. My little brother called me "Freezer Burn" sometimes while my mother called me "temperamental"," she explained, before looking over towards Darwin. "Darwin, what can you do?"

"Well, Darwin's already a nickname, 'adapt to survive' and all," the former cab driver explained. "Check this out."

The others watched Darwin as he strutted over to the fish tank that was in the room. He looked back at them, then in to the fish tank, before dunking his head in. Maureen thought that was a bit gross, but then she saw that gills grew on the side of his head, and he opened his mouth. He was breathing underwater!

"Whoa!" Raven exclaimed, as everyone clapped for Darwin. Darwin took his head out of the water.

"That's incredible," said Hank.

"Thank you, thank you," Darwin bowed, before pointing towards Sean. "Alright, what can you do?"

"I'm going to be...Banshee."

"Why would you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank wondered, but Maureen already had a feeling and she sort of knew why.

"You might want to cover your ears," Sean warned them all first. Maureen immediately obeyed while some hesitated and were confused before covering their ears.

Sean got out from his seat and bent down low to the low table. He glanced up at everyone to see if they had covered their ears before he let out a low, high pitched whistle. The whistle broke the glass cups on the table and the window that they could look at to see the courtyard. By the look on his face, you could tell that it wasn't Sean's intention to break the big glass window.

"So that's what you did at the aquarium!" Maureen exclaimed, looking at Sean.

"What did he do at the aquarium?" Angel asked.

"He scared all the fish away," Maureen cut her answer short. "Angel, what can you do?"

Angel gave her a grin before standing up. "Well, my stage name is Angel, and it kind of fits."

Angel took off her jacket (which Sean wolf whistled to) and her tattoos peeled off to reveal themselves as wings. Maureen thought that was interesting. She didn't see something like that every day.

"You can fly?!" Raven asked in amazement.

"Uh huh," Angel nodded. "And um—"

Angel turned towards the direction for the blown out window caused by Sean and she spat. Her spit was like a small fireball and it scorched the top of the statue that was in the courtyard.

"That's amazing, Angel," Maureen complimented her friend as they all let out a laugh of amazement and amusement.

"Thank you," Angel smiled at the young teenager, before nodded her heads towards Hank in acknowledgement.

"What's your name?" she asked him as she put her black jacket back on, her wings disappearing. Hank looked uncomfortable with all eyes on him. Maureen could feel his uneasiness in waves, and she was about to tell him that he didn't have to share but Alex beat her to it.

"How about "Big Foot"?" he suggested, before taking another swig of his drink.

Maureen shot him a dirty look (but was curious as to why Alex would say that) while Raven retorted, "Well you know what they say about guys with big feet," she glanced down at Alex's own too feet. "And yours are kind of small."

That made everyone chuckle in the room. Maureen didn't miss the glance that Hank and Raven shared.

"Okay now. Alex, what is your gift? What can you do?" Darwin asked the blond, before anything got out of hand.

That was when Alex got nervous.

"Uh it's not um...um, I just can't do it. I can't do it in here."

Maureen looked at him. "Can you not control it?" she asked.

"It's complicated," Alex answered her.

"Can you do it out there?" Darwin asked gesturing to the courtyard.

That was when everyone started to chant for him to show his mutation. Maureen didn't do anything but just stared at him.

Finally, Alex caved in. He put his bottle of Cola down and jumped over the ledge of the broken window.

"Get down when I tell you," he advised, as he walked to his position.

The group of five mutants he left behind leaned out of the window frame to see what Alex would do.

"Get back," Alex warned as he saw the group. They all disappeared behind the ledge but leaned back out again a moment later.

"Get back!" Alex tried again, more forcefully, but the mutants just stayed in their position, wondering what their new friend can do.

"Whatever," he muttered to himself, warming up.

Maureen and the others watched as Alex started to rock his body in circles with three red discs appearing around him in different angles. Maureen watched as the discs launched themselves in different directions. One of them sliced through the statue and the other two causing damage in other places. The five mutants had ducked down for safety, but they saw it all.

They all cheered for Alex as he walked back over.

"That was amazing," Maureen told him sincerely, but she received a grim smile in return. Something in her told her that Alex didn't believe that his ability wasn't all too good.

* * *

Maureen watched her new friends act wild while she stood behind the bar. She messed the radio as her friends partied.

After Maureen asked Hank what he could do by herself, he took off his shoes and proceeded to hang upside down from the lights.

_So this is why Alex called him Big Foot,_ Maureen thought after he showed her.

Angel was in the air with her wings fluttering casually; as Raven was on the sofa dancing (Maureen presumed that she was slightly intoxicated). Alex and Sean were hitting Darwin with chairs and other items to see how indestructible he really was.

Darwin was very indestructible.

"Maureen!" she heard Sean cry as he ran over and grabbed her wrist. "Come on! Join the fun! Dance with me!"

"Oh, I don't—" Maureen began, but Sean wasn't hearing anything that the young girl was saying. He dragged her out from behind the bar and they started to dance in a friendly manner. After awhile, Maureen found herself enjoying it all.

Until Charles and Erik returned.

"_What _are you doing?!"

Maureen and Sean and everyone else suddenly stopped as they turned to see a woman with auburn brown hair staring at them in disbelief, as Charles and Erik stood behind her.

Raven jumped down from the sofa immediately sober as Angel fluttered down. Darwin and Alex stopped what they were doing and all six mutants looked at the three adults.

Maureen felt ashamed.

"Who destroyed the statue?" the woman demanded.

"It was Alex," Hank immediately ratted the blond boy out.

"No, Havok. We have to call him Havok," said Raven, as she moved towards Charles, Erik, and the woman Maureen recognize.

"And we were thinking you should be Professor X," Raven continued, pointing at Charles, "and you should be Magneto," she declared, pointing at Erik.

"Exceptional," said Erik, who kept his emotions masked but Maureen knew better and it didn't take a fool to know either if you judged the looks on him, Erik, and the woman.

None of them were happy.

As the woman followed Erik who had just walked away, Charles looked at Raven.

"I expect more from you," he told her sternly. "Much, much more."

They all watched as he walked away, and Maureen didn't enjoy seeing the disheartened look on her friend's face.

* * *

**Author's note**: There you go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it took a week to write it. If you're wondering about updates, it might be every week or two, depending how much time I take on writing.

The song that was playing while the mutants were having fun in the movie is called _Hippy Hippy Shake_.


	4. chapter three

**Author's note:** Here's the next chapter! I wanted to get this out as soon as possible because on July 5th, I'm leaving and I'll be gone for about a week. I finished this on Saturday, but I decided to publish it today. I also wanted to talk about some things first.

When Maureen gets her visions, she sees them in black and white. It's also implied that she can feel emotions, which the others will figure out in the next chapter.

Shout out to my favorite (and only) reviewer, HelloILikeIt! (I don't mind if you review this or not, but if you have a question or anything, let me know! I have people putting this into their favorites section and there are others that are following this, and that's good too!) I like your suggestion. You see, the First Class boys (Alex, Sean, and Hank) are my _sons_ and I love them to death. (I was deeply saddened about what they did to Sean in Days of Future Past and Alex didn't have too much screen time either.) I want Maureen to bond with them. Yes, two years isn't really that much of a difference but it also depends if you're underage or not, and Sean was just being silly. If I did something to them, something bad would probably happen and then you'd hate me forever. Well, maybe not, but that's all in the future for now!

* * *

Maureen sat in between Raven and Angel as Hank and Sean sat across from them; Alex and Darwin were playing pinball. Maureen could hear them saying things such as, "Jesus, man, you're killing me!" from Darwin and Alex replying, "Don't beat yourself up; I had a lot of spare time." (Maureen wanted to know what Alex meant by that, even though she has a theory or two.)

After Erik, Charles, and Agent Moira MacTaggert (Hank had informed her who she was) left, all of the mutants pitched in and helped clean up the destruction they had made. It was only right, since _they_ were the ones that caused it. Many of the agents talked about them afterwards, Maureen was sure of it. Some people would say she was paranoid, but wouldn't you be too if you saw people staring and pointing at you, then whisper to their friend about it? Maureen found herself in that situation a lot when she was in school, and it felt like it was happening all over again. It was a vicious cycle in life.

Maureen found herself comforting Raven after Charles had left, reassuring her that her brother wasn't really mad at her. He'd forgive her, Maureen was sure of it. That's how siblings worked most of the time anyway.

Maureen missed her brother and her mother as well.

Before Maureen could get more homesick, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that two agents appeared at the window. Great.

"Oh, I didn't know the circus was in town!" One of the agents said. Oh no. Maureen was feeling dread and then there was that empty feeling in her stomach again.

"Hey come on honey," he acknowledged Angel (did they even know their names?); doing a poor imitation of what she could do with her wings. "Give us a little. No? Come on let us see the foot," he said to Hank. His partner was standing by him, saying nothing. He was as bad as the agent who was speaking, if he wasn't doing anything. He wasn't trying to stop his partner from calling out the mutants, which made him bad too.

Maureen felt her anger rising as those men were standing there and making fun of her friends. Before she could get her anger under control, something in the courtyard she couldn't see blew up. Alex and Darwin turned around at the noise and everyone stared at her.

_Great, oh great,_ Maureen started to panic and if she panicked, something would blow up again or she would end up freezing everyone. Or blow up everyone. Now that was bad. She couldn't revive them if she did that. How would she explain to Charles that she killed everyone because she got angry?

_Keep control, keep control, keep control._

The agent that could just not keep his mouth shut looked at her.

"Oh, you're blowing things up now? That's fantastic!"

That tone of voice the agent had used reminded her of her father and she could feel herself turning red in anger. He was mocking her.

Hank noticed the tears that threatened to come out of the angry teenager's eyes. He got up from his spot and walked over towards the big window where those two agents were.

"There it is, come on Big Foot!"

Maureen felt bad for Hank. These were people that he had worked in the same building with, and this was how they treated him? It was disappointing. She watched the brilliant young man pressed a button that allowed green curtains to block their view from the courtyard, where those jerk of agents were standing in.

"Hey. Hey, come on! Hey."

Hank walked back over to the group that was sitting down.

"Thank you Hank," Maureen said quietly, her voice hoarse.

"Maureen?" Sean asked with concern in his voice.

Maureen angrily wiped away a tear that slipped out. Everyone felt sympathetic for her. She could feel it and she didn't want it.

"It's...I need to control my temper. He reminded me of my father," Maureen's voice cracked. She hated her father.

No one didn't know what to say to that, sensing it was a sore subject for the girl. Maureen glanced over towards Alex and Darwin, who were watching her. Alex saw in her eyes that she didn't want the attention so he turned back to the game, Darwin following his actions.

"They're just guys being stupid," Raven tried comforting her friends, as she noted the look on Angel's face as well.

"Guys being stupid I can handle. Okay? I've handle that my whole life. But I'd rather have a bunch of guys staring at me with their clothes off than the way these guys stare at me." Angel explained.

"At us," said Raven, but it was useless.

A moment later, there was a distant thud sound. Sean, Raven, Hank, Angel, and Maureen all shared a look with each other to confirm that they had all heard it.

_Thud._

"What was that?"

Maureen turned to look at Darwin. He had heard that one, but Alex's eyes were still glued to the pinball machine. He hadn't noticed it yet either.

Then was another _thud_ sound.

"Something doesn't feel right," Maureen said, feeling nervous.

Darwin gave the girl a look and walked away from the pinball machine, getting Alex to join him. The mutants that were sitting down got up and all of them walked over towards the window that the agents from moments ago were bothering them. Darwin pushed the button and the curtains swished away so they could see the courtyard once more.

The thudding sounds continued as they mutants peered through the window to see what was going on, but they couldn't see anything.

Suddenly, there were two figures that were in the starry sky and appeared to be in front of the moon.

"What is that?" Darwin asked, but no one knew the answer.

They all watched as one figure let the other one go, falling to the ground with a loud thud. It was an agent; the one Hank had said that he supported mutants.

And now he was dead.

Raven, Angel, and Maureen screamed as everyone except Maureen jumped back from the window when they saw his body hit the floor, Maureen was the loudest. They all realized that those thuds were the sounds of agents—people—_dying_.

There were more thud sounds, more bodies flying through the air and hitting the floor, the rooftops, whatever surface there was. It scared Maureen and the others. She and Raven were starting to hyperventilate, or were going to soon.

"They're dying!" Maureen cried, stating the obvious. "They're dying because of us!"

Then there were more agents running in front of the window, having large guns in their hands.

"Get back! Get back! Do not leave that room!"

Someone went up to Maureen and roughly pulled her back. She gasped and she received a vision.

* * *

_She saw Alex using his ability, red rings appearing around his body._

_He aimed one of them at a tall man that Maureen could not identify._

_The man seemed to collect Alex's energy ring in his hand changing it into a small red sphere in his hand._

_"Adapt to this," he said to Darwin who he had caught, and pushed the red ball of energy into Darwin's mouth._

_Darwin turned and held his hand out, but he seemed to be frozen in his spot, unable to move. Maureen could feel his fear even in the premonition._

_The young man seemed to change into some type of metal and he exploded as if Maureen blew him up._

* * *

Maureen snapped out of her vision and clung desperately to Darwin. He was the one that had pulled her back. There were tears streaming down her face, and Darwin kept a tight arm around his young friend. He thought she was just scared. Everyone did when they noticed the young distraught teen. But then again, who _wasn't_ scared at that moment?

How could Maureen tell them that she just saw their friend dying? She tried to but no words came out of her mouth. Then out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a man that suddenly appeared behind the men that were trying to protect them. The man had deep red skin with black hair and he appeared to have a tail, but Maureen couldn't be so sure if she was seeing correctly or not as her tears were blinding her.

All of the mutants desperately pointed the men who were trying to help, trying to warn them of the man that just appeared out of nowhere.

"Behind you! Behind you!" they all cried desperately.

"Shoot! Shoot!"

The men started to shoot at the man with the red skin, but he disappeared and reappeared behind one of the agents. He turned the agent at the rec room and every mutant got behind one of the sofas for protection as the bullets broke the newly replaced window. Darwin was squatting and deflected a few bullets. He was protecting them, and Maureen couldn't help but think about his death that she had foreseen. She desperately wanted to warn him but before she could, she heard a whirling sound. All of the mutants looked towards the other side—the one with its window still intact—and they saw a tornado whirling in. Maureen couldn't exactly recall that they were under a tornado watch.

Darwin glanced at the door that was near them all. He needed to get them out of there.

Maureen heard a poof sound, and she turned around to see that the red man (who she was sure that he could teleport) was _murdering_ the people who were desperately trying to protect them. She felt her blood boil as she and Raven both watched in terror of what that _terrible_ man was doing.

"Stay here, my ass!" Darwin shouted, taking charge. "Let's go!"

The others followed his lead as they ran out of the room and down the hall, where more guards were in.

"Get back!" one of them yelled and continued to.

"We can help! We can help!" Darwin protested, but the guards were holding them back.

"We can help!"

Then there was an explosion from the end of the hallway and they all let out screams and shouts, running back to the room where they had originally ran out from.

When the mutants went back in the room, they all saw that the red skinned man—mutant, Maureen silently corrected herself—was still killing agents. Maureen was terrified out of her mind, was he going to kill them to?

_Of course he would, or one of them will,_ a voice whispered in the back of Maureen's mind. _They kill Darwin._

Maureen suddenly found herself that she could speak. "Darwin, I got to tell you something..."

"Not now!" Darwin interrupted her, as they all straightened themselves, bracing for whatever it was to come. They watched as the red skinned mutant killed one more agent, when they heard a scream and the whirling of wind.

_The tornado,_ Maureen remembered, as the mutants turned just in time to see an agent caught in it. He went through the remaining window and it shattered, his body falling to the ground.

There was a groan and the mutants turned back to where the red skinned mutant and one remaining agent was, and he stabbed him in the back. Maureen felt the hot tears streaming down her face as she and Raven clung to one another, terrified.

There was a crunch of glass, and the mutants turned back to the other side to see a young man who seemed to have a Hispanic heritage in a blue suit walking in on them.

_Oh, God._

Maureen's eyes flickered to see the other red mutant walking in on them too.

_Oh, **God**._

Maureen was shaking; she realized it after a long while. She was shaking and she was scared. She was going to be sick. She wanted to throw up. They were going to _die_.

Then there were more gunshots, and every (good) mutant turned their eyes to the door that was shut.

"Wait! Wait!" the last remaining agent on the other side cried. "You want the mutants? They're right through that door. Just let us normal people go..." Maureen felt her heart shatter in heartbreak and disbelief. "We're no threat—"

There was one more gunshot, and Maureen knew the agent was dead. After a moment, the door opened and a man with a helmet came in.

It was the man that had murdered Darwin in her vision, she was positive about it.

Maureen's eyes widen even more if it was possible. Everyone in her group was all frozen in fear, most likely. That was what was radiating from them, as much as Maureen could collect as she had one hand tightened around Sean's arm, gulping.

"Where's the telepath?" the man asked the other two mutants. Maureen assumed he was talking about Charles.

"Not here," the mutant that could teleport answered. He had an accent, but Maureen didn't know it was Russian until very much later.

"Well, at least I can take this silly thing off," said the man in the helmet, who Maureen or the others never took their eyes away from. No one in the room could read his mind, but one of them could read his emotions and she knew that he was bad news. Maureen was certain that this was the man Charles and Erik had told them all about.

The man took off his helmet. Maureen had to admit, he looked ridiculous in it. Why was he wearing it? Was it to protect himself? To protect his thoughts from telepaths like Charles?

"Good evening. My name is Sebastian Shaw," he introduced himself. The man was tall and thin. He was old, possible in his forties but edging more towards the fifties. He had brown hair, and there was danger radiating from him, anyone could feel that. "And I am not here to hurt you."

Maureen's eyebrows knitted into a scowl as he took a couple steps closer to the group, closer to her. She didn't like him at all. She wanted to hide behind Sean, Hank and Alex, the ones closer to her, but she wasn't going to. As much as Maureen knew that she was fidgeting and shaking (which she tried her best to hide, she hoped it was working.), she would _not_ let that man or his cronies scare her. She needed to be brave.

"Freeze!" a voice yelled. It was another agent. Maureen didn't have the heart to look over to where he was, because she knew that he would be killed too.

"Azazel," Shaw commanded. The red mutant disappeared and Maureen heard him reappear in front of that agent, taking his sword and stabbing his victim. There was thud as the agent's lifeless body fell to the ground.

Shaw, who was watching the red mutant who he identified as Azazel, grinned and turned back to the group.

"My friends, there's a revolution coming," Shaw began, as he handing his helmet to the mutant that could create tornadoes. "When mankind discovers who we are, what we can do. Each of us will face a choice," Shaw looked over at all the mutants, who seemed to be standing their ground. Maureen told herself she will not falter when he looked at her.

"Be enslaved," Shaw continued. "Or rise up to rule. Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then by definition you are against us."

Shaw stared at Maureen. Maureen stared back in response. She wasn't going to let him manipulate her.

"So, you can stay and fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me, and live like kings," he looked at the group altogether once more before staring down directly at Angel and offering her his hand, "and queens."

Angel hesitated for a long moment before putting her smaller hand into his larger one. Maureen felt like she was about to be sick as she watched them walk away.

"Angel," Maureen heard Raven's voice that was filled with disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" Sean couldn't believe it either.

"Come on," Angel tried to persuade them. Her voice was filled with hurt. She felt hurt. "We don't belong here. And that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Darwin offered her his hand as if he was trying to get her back, but she ignored it and continued to walk away with Shaw into the courtyard, the mutant that held on to the helmet was behind them.

As Maureen watched them walk away. She didn't know what to think.

"We got to do something," Raven insisted.

Darwin watched Angel and Shaw walk away from them for a moment before turning back to Alex. He had an idea.

_Oh no._ Maureen knew what he was planning on doing. She watched as Darwin hit Alex. Alex hit him back. Darwin hit Alex again before Alex gave one last shove Darwin walked away.

"Stop. I'm coming with you."

Maureen's eyes widen. She had to act fast.

"Darwin, before you do anything—" she tried to warn him, raising her hand and pointed a finger at him, but Alex hushed her.

"We're leaving," he whispered to her very quietly, glancing at the rest. "Now."

Slowly, the group walked towards the center of the room, observing the scene in the courtyard. Shaw and Darwin were now face to face.

"Good choice," Shaw was happy with Darwin now. "Tell me about your mutation."

"Well I adapt to survive, so I guess I'm coming with you," Darwin explained.

"I like that," Shaw nodded, gesturing for Darwin to stand next to Angel. Darwin nodded and took his spot.

"Alex!" he yelled, grabbing Angel and he shifted.

"Get out!" Alex yelled at the group and they all ran out of the room, except for Maureen.

"Alex, no!"

"Do it!" Darwin shouted.

"Get out!" he yelled at her, roughly pushing her back. She stumbled and Hank caught her. She watched in horror as Alex took a few steps up.

"No!" Maureen yelled as she struggled in Hank's arms as he was pulling her away.

"He's going to kill him!" Maureen shouted. "Let me go!"

"We have to get out of here!" Hank said.

"I said no!" Maureen shouted back, as Hank dragged her along. Trying to act quickly, she bit Hank's hand _hard_ and he let go as he let out a yell.

"Ow!"

"Maureen!"

"What the hell are you doing?"

Maureen quickly slipped out of Hank's grip and ran back to where Alex was.

"Maureen!"

"Get back here!"

Maureen wasn't listening as she skidded to a halt when she entered the rom. Alex was frozen in his spot.

"No..." Maureen whispered to herself and ran up towards the blond. "Alex?"

When he wouldn't respond, Maureen looked out to into the courtyard. She too froze in terror as she saw that her vision was becoming very real.

"Adapt to this," Shaw said, and he popped in the red ball of energy into Darwin's mouth. He walked over towards Angel, Azazel, and the other mutant that were watching this all happen. The four of them clasped hands together and they vanished. The teleporter had took them away.

Alex and Maureen both watched in horror as Darwin turned to face them. His body was rapidly changing, trying to survive to what was happening to him.

Darwin reached out for them—for Alex—before he combusted in to ashes.

Darwin was dead. Maureen's vision had come true. She started to cry as Alex stayed still next to her, most likely in shock. She could feel his guilt, anger, and sudden grief that was hitting him all at once, and at her too. Then suddenly, Alex sprinted out of the room, not looking back.

Maureen didn't follow. She knew that he needed time for himself.

"Alex? Maureen?"

It was Raven's voice. She had came back into the room along with Hank and Sean.

"What happened?" Sean asked.

Slowly, Maureen turned around to face her friends. She was crying freely with her eyes rimmed red, her face must have been covered in blotches of red too. Her cheeks felt itchy and she was trying to calm herself down before she gave her answer.

"Darwin's dead."


	5. chapter four

**Author's note:** Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry you had to wait for two weeks. I was on vacation for a week, then I distracted myself. (I distract myself a lot.) I made some mixes on 8tracks. I've also been busy reading A Game of Thrones, since I'm rereading the _a Song of Ice and Fire_ series. (If you haven't read them, check it out! They're much more better than the show itself.) I've been also rewatching X-Men: Evolution, which is basically a high school AU of the mutants, and it is _awesome_. (I'm in it for the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to be honest.) I've been actually getting ideas for that too...anyway, it's great to be back! I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, if I had to be honest. It's shorter than the previous ones, but not that much, really. (I thought I owed you guys something to read for this week.)

Thanks for the reviews! Sorry if the last chapter was confusing, it is always a little tough writing scenes that just act so quickly that your brain can't process it just as fast. Maureen doesn't really like her visions, it's just a little secret she hasn't shared yet. (I'm going to keep the beach scene canon most likely, but there might be some small changes, I haven't planned it out yet but _I am keeping Charles disabled_. That's very important. The Beach Divorce scene is very important. Gotta love that Cherik.)

Someone (and I'm sure a lot of you are just dying to know) is curious if Maureen will end up with anyone. Your answer? It's possible, but if I do pair her up with someone, it won't be until after the X-Men: First Class arc ends. Also, who would I pair her up with? Someone from the First Class crew? (That's it, I'm going to call them _that_ from now on.) Someone that hasn't been scene in the movies (yet)? An original character who is a human or a mutant? Only time may tell. You can even suggest if you want!

Before I'm done rambling, there are some comic reference tie ins in this chapter. I thought you should know. Enjoy!

* * *

It had been hours since Darwin's death.

It was two o'clock in the morning, if Maureen read the time right. Her vision was blurry. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. The only one who was sleeping was Sean, who was snoring away on the couch.

Darwin's death had shaken everyone up. Maureen sat at one of the tables in the rec room, staring into space. Hank sat near her, his hand wrapped in gauze that Maureen had found in a first aid kit. She felt really bad about biting Hank. Her mother always called her a biter, and a hard one at that. She bit Hank so hard that he was _bleeding_ and she left deep puncture marks in between his forefinger and thumb.

"I'm sorry I bit you," Maureen told him for what seemed the twentieth time that night. She felt bad about it. Hank was only trying to protect her.

"It's fine," Hank shrugged it off. It looked like he had more to say, but he fell silent once more. He was probably going to say something about Darwin.

Raven was laying down on the couch, her eyes trained on something in the distance. She really hasn't spoken, either. No one has. For the first thirty minutes they were all trying to calm Maureen down who felt anger, pain, and guilt. She was angry that Darwin had died. She felt his fear as he was dying, and that was something she _never_ wanted to feel again. She felt so guilty for not being able to save him.

Maureen knew it just wasn't _her_ pain she was feeling. Everyone was distraught, but not as bad as Alex has been, or was. No one has seen him since the incident, but Maureen knew he was hurting. He needed to let it out, he was bottling it up.

Maureen decided that she would go find Alex.

"Excuse me," Maureen said quietly, standing up. She looked around. If she wanted to get away from everyone, where would _she_ go?

Outside.

Slowly, Maureen went through the door and walked down the halls, finding her way out. While she was walking a moderate pace, she looked around at the destruction that has happened. She noticed men staring at her, but she ignored them. These were the people who all the dead agents had called backup on, but they had come too late. They always do.

Maureen exited the building (which really didn't look like a building anymore, since Shaw and his henchmen wrecked the place.) and she was out in the early morning sky. She glanced around; the stars and the moon were out, allowing her to see in the dark.

"Where's Alex?" she asked herself. She had hoped that he hadn't run away, but as she walked further away from Division X, she could feel him. He was nearby somewhere. He hasn't left the grounds, which Maureen was thankful for. She wouldn't need to venture out too far.

"Alex?" Maureen called, as she took cautious steps out into the night. She could feel herself getting closer, the grief unbearable to handle, but she had to for now. She needed to make sure her friend was okay.

As she was further away from the building, she could see a silhouette of something—or rather, someone—slouching on a bench. She smiled grimly to herself in triumph as she went over to him. She had found Alex.

"Can I sit here?" she asked when she found herself standing in front of him. He had his face buried in his hands and it sounded like he was trying so hard not to cry.

Alex didn't answer her, but Maureen sat next to him. It was silent for a couple of minutes before Alex slowly looked up at her; his blue eyes were rimmed red. His face looked blotchy and there were tears streaked down his cheeks. He looked like hell.

"Aren't you going to say something?" he snapped at her, feeling embarrassed that a fifteen-year-old girl was watching him cry.

"I didn't want you to be alone, you've been out here too long by yourself," Maureen answered softly. "It's okay to cry, you know. It won't make you any less of a human. Everyone cries, you should let it out."

Alex couldn't help but find himself nodding. Maureen reminded him of someone who he once knew. "Thanks, I guess. I just...I didn't want anyone seeing me upset."

"That's understandable," Maureen told him. She has once been in his place. Alex continued to sniffle. It was quiet between them for a while.

"This is why I don't like using my powers," Alex finally admitted.

Maureen found herself hesitating. "Has it...has it happened before?" She felt like it was a very personal question.

Alex was quiet for a few minutes. Could he tell her what he's done in the past? But the look in the young girl's eyes told him that he could trust her.

"Yes," he admitted, calming down enough to tell the tale. "It happened years ago, I was probably a few years younger than you, give or take. I had a little sister. Her name was Haley. You remind me of her a lot, actually. One day, we were walking home from school. To make a long story short, I killed the man who was trying to abduct us."

"Someone tried to kidnap you?" Maureen asked. Alex nodded. "But, you didn't _mean_ to kill him, did you? You were only trying to protect yourself and your sister. It was self defense, wasn't it?"

Alex nodded again. "I didn't mean to, yeah, but I still _killed_ him, Maureen. Afterwards, my sister stared at me in horror, she was scared," Alex was choking up again. "She was scared of me. I'm a bad person. I'm a monster."

Maureen stared at him. "Why would you say such a thing?"

"Because I _am_, don't you get it? I've _killed_ people. I killed _Darwin_."

Maureen shook her head. She turned her body towards him. She took his hands into her own small ones.

"Alex," she began, as if she was soothing someone. As if she was soothing her little brother, a small whisper in the back of her head whispered. "You are _not_ a monster; you are _not_ a bad person. If you were, you wouldn't feel remorse over your actions; you wouldn't be so upset over Darwin's death. If anyone would be the monster, it would be Shaw. _He_ was the one that killed him, not you." Maureen gave him a soft smile, squeezing his hands. "Stop blaming yourself, Darwin made a choice. Allow him dignity for it. He sure as hell deserves it, he was so _brave_ in his time of dying," Maureen gulped. "He was so afraid, as well, but I think everyone would in a situation like that. God, I _never_ want to feel such a strong fear like that ever again..."

"You keep saying you_ feel_ these things. Emotions," Alex observed. "What do you mean by that? Can you feel someone's emotions?"

Maureen offered a shrug. "I think it's safe to say I can. That's how I found you, sort of." A shiver traveled up and down her spine. It was chilly out. Maureen stood up. "I think we should head back in, don't you think?"

Alex nodded and Maureen offered him her hand to take. He took it got himself up.

"If you don't want anyone to see your red eyes, you can borrow my shades if you want. Or Sean's, I don't think he'd mind. Not now, anyway. He's out like a baby."

Alex chuckled. "I'm good, but thanks for your offer."

Alex and Maureen walked inside together, back to where the rest of the remaining group was. Hank was still up, but it looked like Raven had falling asleep while Maureen was out. It was either that, or she was resting her eyes.

Maureen guided him to where she was sitting with Hank before. Hank saw them coming towards him and he perked up. Maureen wondered if he thought Alex was going to jab at him, but she knew he would be safe from Alex's teasing, for now anyway.

"Do you want anything?" Maureen asked Alex and Hank as Alex sat down. "A drink? Something to eat? Professional counseling?"

The boys shook their heads, and Maureen sighed and turned to where Raven was laying down.

"Raven, do you want anything?"

"I'm good," came the reply back. There was a pause, and Raven spoke again.

"Actually, could you get me a snack?"

* * *

Maureen sat in between Alex and Raven, once the sun came out. They watched as the men in black and men in military uniforms try to clean up the debris from the building. It would be a long time until Division X opened back up, Maureen mused to herself.

No one really said anything as they waited for Charles and Erik to return. How were they going to explain Darwin's death and Angel's betrayal? Maureen's throat tightened up at the thought. She still couldn't believe what had happened to them the night before.

She hasn't slept. She's been drinking coffee and cola to keep herself awake. She feared that she would have nightmares if she went to sleep. She was afraid of the monsters appearing in her dreams. It seemed like when she shut her eyes, she saw Darwin dying. (She saw her father hitting her mother, too, but no one needed to know about that.)

Maureen saw with blank eyes that a car had pulled in a couple of yards away from them, and she saw that Charles and Erik had gotten out quickly. They came back. A part of Maureen said they would never come back, that they would abandon her and the others.

_But they didn't, _Maureen heard her conscious. _They're not like your father, they're good men. You know that._

"Raven!" Charles called out to his sister, who stood up when she heard her name. Charles ran to meet her and gave her a quick embrace before letting her go. Erik walked up behind him, with Agent MacTaggert trailing behind.

Charles took a look at the four mutants that were still sitting "We've made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately."

Maureen perked up at this. They were going to be sent home? She didn't want to go home! Sure, she missed her mother and brother, but she needed to be here!

"No," Maureen gave Charles a hard, determined stare.

"We're not going home," Sean chimed in.

Charles looked back and forth between the two. "What?"

"He's not going back to prison," Sean gestured towards Alex.

"They killed Darwin," Alex added.

"All the more reason for you to leave," Charles explained. "This is over."

That was when Raven cut in. "Darwin's dead, Charles, and we can't even bury him."

"We can avenge him." Erik spoke, and all heads turned towards the metal bender.

_Vengeance?_ Maureen thought. Could they do it?

"Erik, a word please," Charles requested as the two walked just a few feet away from them, whispering to each other. Maureen didn't know if Charles and Erik had failed to realize that they couldn't whisper as quiet as they thought they could. They were very loud whisperers, but Maureen wasn't going to tell them that anytime soon.

"They're just kids," Charles tried to reason his friend.

"No, they were kids," Erik disagreed. "Shaw has his army, we need ours."

Charles paused before turning back to the young mutants.

"We'll have to train," he told them. "All of us. Yes?"

"Yeah," Alex spoke for them all as Maureen and Hank both started to nod in agreement.

"We can't stay here," Hank pointed out, speaking up for the first time since Charles, Erik, and MacTaggert had returned. "Even if they reopened the department, it's not safe. We've got nowhere to go."

Maureen felt like she was sinking as her friend spoke. He was right. The building was demolished, and who said Shaw wouldn't be back for them?

"Yes we do," Charles said, as if he was reading Maureen's thoughts. He and Raven shared a look, but Maureen couldn't read it.

* * *

As it turns out, Charles owned a _mansion_. The Xavier Mansion it was called, and it was huge. To Maureen, it looked liked a castle the way the outside looked. Maureen loved architecture, but she never told anyone that.

That's she found herself and the others staring up at the home Charles and Raven grew up in, taken in its beauty.

"This is yours," Sean stated. It was like he couldn't believe that Charles was allowing them to stay in his home.

"No, it's ours," Charles corrected the young man, glancing back at him.

"Honestly Charles, I don't know how you survived, living in such hardship," said Erik in a dry tone, turning his head to face his friend.

"Well it was such hardship softened by me," Raven stalked up towards the men, allowing Charles to kiss her on her temple.

"Time for the tour," Raven stated, leading the group inside the mansion. She pulled Maureen up with her, who was stuck with Sean and Alex. "Follow me."


	6. chapter five

**Author's note:** So...it's been what, three weeks maybe? I'm terribly sorry about that long wait! My life just got super busy (probably because I start school in about a week) and my computer has been acting up lately as well. (I need to get it fixed.) I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter because I did a lot of copy and paste, deleting, adding in more and other stuff so I'm not sure if it turned out well. I was going to split this in half, but I feel bad about accidentally putting this off, so I'll give it to you now. I figured that you guys should read _something_ before I go back to school. I don't know when the next update will be, seeing as I need to fit this in my school schedule.

Thanks for the reviews! I'm still working on the Summers' back story. I don't know if I'm going to make Alex the older brother like they did in the movies, or make Scott his son and if I'm going to keep Haley as Alex's adoptive or make her his biological sister, I'm not sure yet. I've also been thinking about the Days of Future Past arc too, and what I'm going to do about that. Don't worry, Maureen shouldn't be a Mary Sue.

There are some references about Charles's past and there are descriptions about some mutants that are not quite in the series yet! And if anyone was wondering, I remade my Tumblr. It's munroe-baratheon, if you want to follow me on there. I also added my characters on my profile and if you click on their name, you can see their face claims if you have trouble picturing what they look like. I hope you like this chapter.

* * *

The Xavier mansion was _huge_.

Raven had dragged Maureen _everywhere_ in the house. She showed her every level of the home, Maureen was almost positive about it. Maureen had never been to a mansion before, and she didn't really live in a large house before hand. She had lived in a small apartment complex with her family, but it was big enough for the three of them.

Maureen was sure that Charles could fit in an entire school in his home if he wished.

Later, after Charles had sat everyone down for some ground rules (d_on't go into my father's study, wash your hands before you eat_ (he was mainly looking at the younger boys when he said this)_, try not to destroy the house_), he let them go and he and Raven helped their guests to their rooms. Raven and Maureen's rooms where across from each others and the boys were farther down the hallway from them. Charles and Erik in a different corridor away from the young mutants. Maureen thought that was smart of them to do.

Sean and Alex had helped Maureen with her things (her mother had sent her more items once she found out that her daughter was staying in Manchester.) up to her room, sometimes dropping things in progress. Maureen didn't get angry with them; she just had an amused smile plastered on her face.

"Your stuff is too heavy!" Sean complained. "What do you have in here?"

Maureen didn't answer, but only opened her door so the boys could just waltz in and drop her stuff on her bed. She grinned at them cheekily. They mumbled to themselves and left her alone afterwards so they could all settle in.

As Maureen put some clothes in a drawer and placed a book she was reading for school on her bedside table, she wondered how life would be different here. She wouldn't have to go to school for awhile at least, she'd have to train to strengthen her abilities. She had friends, so that was a bonus.

When Maureen was finished, she let out a heavy sigh and laid down in her bed, on top of the sheets. After a couple of stressful days, Maureen found herself having a moment to relax. It felt good.

Then she heard a knock on her door.

"It's open," Maureen yawned, not realizing how tired she was until then.

Raven came bouncing in. "I'm just checking to see how you're doing," she said. "You doing okay?"

"I'm great, thank you," Maureen replied, sitting up. "I'm really tired, though."

"You look tired, there are circles under your eyes," Raven observed. "Charles wants us to come downstairs. It's dinnertime."

"Already?" Maureen asked, glancing at the clock. The time was almost 5:30 PM. "I guess it is. Could you take me downstairs? I don't know where anything is."

"Of course," Raven smiled, taking Maureen's hand and dragging her off the bed, locking arms with her. "Let's go!"

* * *

Dinner wasn't too bad, even though Maureen was sure she was about to fall asleep. Sean kept pinching her on her bicep. Eventually after about five minutes into it, Maureen slapped his hand away, getting a yelp out of her redhead friend.

"Ow!" Sean cried. "Hey!"

Alex was laughing as if it was the best thing he's seen in a long time.

Charles gave all three of them a look, but Maureen couldn't tell what he was feeling.

It was a semi-quiet dinner for them all. Maureen wasn't sure if it was because no one knew how to start up a conversation, or if they all didn't feel like talking. She knew she didn't feel like talking, she just wanted to go to bed.

* * *

It was around two o'clock in the morning and Maureen had woken up, going downstairs into the kitchen. It was dark and she got lost once or twice, but she had finally made it to the fridge to get something to quench her thirst.

Maureen had woken up suddenly, feeling so...angry, thirsty for vengeance; haunted by her past if that meant anything. She didn't understand what it meant, but she did understand that if she didn't get something to drink, she was sure to die from a dry mouth.

After she took deep, long gulps out of the milk cartoon she found in the fridge (she told herself that she would not tell anyone about what she just did nor will she think about it and get scolded at by Charles), Maureen hastily wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before she put the jug away.

Maureen couldn't move from her spot, or so she thought. She couldn't go back to sleep, she was hurting too much emotionally, almost physically, and that frustrated and frightened her at the same time. She had no reason to be so bitter, she thought to herself. It had to be someone else who was also up. Who could sleep at night feeling like that?

That was when someone grabbed her roughly on her upper arm, and Maureen gasped loudly as she was drawn into one of her premonitions.

* * *

_She saw a young boy in ragged clothing._

_Then there was a woman who was possible in her middle ages, but she looked so much older than that. She was filthy and she too was in ragged clothing, more ragged than the boy's._

_Maureen saw the boy with a frustrated and concentrated expression on his face, but there was gunshot and the woman fell to the floor._

_The boy was angry and he destroyed the room and judging by his ability, Maureen could identify this young child as a young Erik Lehnsherr._

_Maureen watched as a young Erik was being experimented and tortured on by a man, a man who looked all too familiar..._

* * *

_"...I said, what are you doing up?"_

The voice was harsh and cold as Maureen snapped back into reality. She found herself not in that small nightmare no more, but she was stuck with Erik as he gripped her by her arms. It scared her so bad that she started to shake, but Erik either didn't notice or care. Then she blurted possible one of the worst answers she could have given.

"He hurt you, didn't he? Shaw did."

If looks could kill, Erik could have butchered Maureen right then and there, and his anger rose even more, which seemed to suffocate Maureen.

"Don't you ever_ speak_ of that," Erik hissed, teeth bearing. It made Maureen think of a shark. "How did you know about that?"

"I can get visions, if you've forgotten," Maureen bit back. "I can feel your emotions too if you didn't know, which most likely you didn't. I never told any of you that, Alex figured it out."

Erik continued to give her a mean look, and Maureen was afraid he would hit her. Then suddenly, he looked confused.

"What are you doing?" Erik asked the young girl as he took a step back, letting her go in the progress. "I'm not...I never felt like _this_."

This time, it was Maureen who was confused. "I'm sorry?"

"Don't lie to me," Erik warned. "You're doing _this_ to me. You're making me _feel_ like this."

_Feel_, Maureen thought. Her mutation must be allowing her to reflect emotions inside another, the subject being Erik.

"What are you feeling like?" Maureen asked but as she did, she found her answer. She could feel the peacefulness in between them both, but there was also fear. Maureen couldn't recognize where the fear came from.

"Well this is what you get for waking me up," Maureen added quickly with a bit of attitude in her voice, as she backed away from him, exiting the kitchen. "And leave me alone."

Maureen didn't trust Erik.

* * *

It was the next morning when Charles told them that they should begin their training. Sean moaned in his bowl of cereal. Hank looked nervous. Everyone had to wear gray tracksuits, which matched Maureen's eyes in an odd way. (It was Hank that had told her that, and Maureen couldn't help but blush. No one had really complimented her eyes before and she thought that they were dull looking. It was nice to know that someone thought differently, she supposed.)

* * *

Maureen had just came from where she was lifting weights with Raven, grabbing herself a drink when Alex had came stomping in the room from wherever he had just came from.

"Are you alright?" Maureen asked her friend, concerned.

Alex grumbled. "I set the bunker on fire."

That statement just seemed so funny the way he had said it that it had made Maureen chuckle.

"You set the bunker on fire?" Maureen checked.

"Yes!" Alex was getting agitated by the second.

Maureen held up her free hand, the other was where she was holding her drink. "Alex, I'm sure it's alright. Charles isn't mad is he?"

"No," Alex sighed, as he sat down. He was incredibly frustrated with himself; it didn't take someone like Maureen to figure it out.

"Don't be frustrated with yourself, it won't help," Maureen advised her friend, sitting across from him. "You'll get it eventually. I know it."

"You sound like Charles," Alex told the young girl. He was actually feeling better already, but he couldn't figure out why.

"I don't want to be like him," Maureen responded. "But it's the first day; you'll get it in a few weeks."

* * *

The training sessions usually ended before dinner and all the mutants where thankful for that.

After dinner, it was their free time. Sometimes, they all hung out with each other. Other times, they all went to their rooms, or did something on their own.

As of now, Maureen was on the phone with her mother. It was past eleven, and Charles had insisted that everyone should be sleeping, but Maureen didn't care. Besides, Charles didn't follow his own rules anyway. She's noticed that the past couple of nights after lights out Erik would often...sneak into his friend's room. Maureen wasn't sure and she didn't want to know why he did that.

"And you're alright? They're treating you nicely, yes?" Maureen's mother was saying on the other line. Amelia Shepherd wasn't too keen on the idea of having her daughter being trained for a possible World War Three from a mutant terrorist, but she knew she wouldn't be able to stop her daughter. Maureen was too stubborn.

"Yes, mom, I'm treated well here," Maureen replied in a casual tone. Her mother was always worried about how she was treated. Maureen knew all the reasons why, so she tried to understand. Sometimes, it annoyed the teenager. "I even made friends here."

Maureen could hear the smile in her mother's voice. "That's great, dear. I'm glad you're not so lonely there. Have you practiced your...abilities yet?"

"No, not quite. Charles says he wants to work on them tomorrow, I think. I'm scared though," Maureen paused before adding, "but he has been making me do_ school work_. He says I shouldn't fall behind on my education."

Ms. Shepherd chuckled at her daughter's expense. "He only wants to help you, Maureen. Don't be scared. He's a kind young man from what I have gathered."

Maureen knew that her mother was right that. Charles just wanted to give back to the world, it seemed. Maureen didn't understand it. Shouldn't he want something in return?

"I think you're right about that," Maureen reluctantly agreed with her mother. "How's Tommy doing?"

* * *

"I don't want to die!"

Raven and Maureen glanced at each other in confusion as they could hear Sean's cries from where they were sitting in Raven's room. Maureen quickly jumped up from her friend's bed and before she ran towards the bedroom door and quickly stepped out of the room, Raven behind her. What was going on?

When the two girls looked down at one end of the hall, they saw Hank and Charles strapping something onto Sean, the colors in blue navy and yellow stripes. Neither one of them didn't know what was happening.

"Charles?" Raven called down to them as she and Maureen walked closer to them. "What's going on?"

"They're trying to kill me!" Sean insisted. Maureen felt sorry for her friend. Usually, Sean's face had bright, happy features, but now he looked scared. He _was_ scared.

Maureen's eyes studied the three young men, and then to the window. Then, she noticed that Erik and Alex were lounging nearby at window.

She wondered...

Alex whistled for the two girls' attention, waving a hand as if to say _come over here_. Raven went but Maureen stood back for a moment.

"Charles, Hank, what are you going to do with Sean?" she wondered, eyeing them both. Hank fidgeted under her gaze.

"Well you see," Hank began, but Sean frantically cut him off.

"They want me to fly!"

_To fly?_

Charles and Hank dragged Sean to the nearest window, which made Maureen jog over to the closet window where the others were. She was leaning out of the window in front, Raven and Alex behind her while Erik was in the back. It was safe to say that they were all amused by what was about to happen, to see if Sean could do it or not.

All of the mutants watched as Sean sat on the windowsill, clearly afraid. Charles and Hank stood beside him, standing inside the mansion.

The mutants all heard Hank mutter something to Sean, which the redhead replied with, "Should carry me. That's reassuring."

Sean briefly turned away from Charles and Hank and looked at where the other mutants where at, watching him getting ready to fly. He locked his eyes directly on Maureen, who looked like she was stuck in the middle of being afraid for him or to be amused with the others. He found that comforting, seeing as at least _one_ person cared enough.

"Do you think you could give me a good luck's kiss?" he asked, and everyone turned their heads on Maureen. They all knew he was directing that line towards her. Like hell he would have tried it on anyone else.

Alex gave him a look that was mixed with annoyance, confusion, and protectiveness while Erik rolled his eyes. Raven still had a grin on her face and Maureen shook her head and gave him a small, sweet smile. "No."

"Worth a shot," Sean muttered to himself, facing forward, spreading his arms out. He looked back towards Charles and Hank, who reminded him to scream, and he pushed himself off the edge.

Sean fell from the second story floor of the mansion and into the shrubs. Everyone started to laugh, saving Charles, Hank, and Maureen. Maureen stared down at her friend's figure in horror while the rest laughed. Charles and Hank ran away from the window quickly to go to Sean's aid.

As they did, Sean slowly lifted himself off the ground. He turned his head back up to where the guffawing mutants were and gave them a dazed look.

"How did I do?"

That made them laugh even harder.

* * *

It was finally Maureen's turn to spend time with Charles. She was terrified. She didn't know what to expect at all.

It seemed as if all the mutants could feel her anxiety rolling off of her while they ate breakfast together. Charles, Erik, and Moira MacTaggert haven't come in yet. Maureen couldn't help but feel thankful for that.

"Charles won't force you into anything that you don't want to do," Raven assured her young friend, who was visibly shaking. Raven didn't understand why Maureen was so scared. None of them did.

"Are you sure?" the girl asked back quickly.

"I'm sure," Raven offered the teenager a smile. Maureen gave a smile back. Raven grew up with Charles and Charles has been taking care of all of them.

She still felt scared about it though.

* * *

It wasn't as bad as she thought it would have been.

Charles had her lessons outside, which wasn't bad. At least Maureen wouldn't have accidentally blown up anything priceless. She would have been in _big_ trouble.

Maureen did however, accidentally shattered a couple of first story windows of the mansion. Charles had told her not worry when he could see that the young girl was about to panic, but Maureen knew that Charles should have been just a bit upset over it.

Charles has asked her to use her freezing ability (he called it molecular immobilization), and she ended up freezing Hank, who was with him, watching quietly. Maureen's eyes widen but as soon as her power worn off on her friend, he didn't mind it at all.

Hank had said that when he was frozen, he said he had felt like his eyes were shut, and none of his senses were working. It was as if he was dead to the world.

"This could be a great advantage," Charles said, taking in the information. "It would stop all movements from your opponent. They wouldn't able to to do anything."

Which was kind of the point, Maureen thought, but she didn't know if Charles had paid attention to hear that thought.

"Now, we are going to work on your premonitions next. But right now, I want you to meet me in my study."

Maureen suppressed a groan.

* * *

Charles was sitting in his study (his father's study, really), waiting for the teenager to enter. Eventually, Maureen did come to him. It was his telepathic messages that weren't leaving her alone, and she decided to finally go talk to him. She felt extremely guilty for what she had done.

"Hello Maureen," Charles greeted the young girl. Maureen noticed how he was sitting in a sofa; one leg seemed to cross the other. He patted on the empty spot next to him. "Please, sit down."

Slowly and nervously, Maureen sat next to the professor. She tried to read him, to see if he was displeased with her. As far as she could tell he wasn't, but that could easily change.

Charles must have heard her thoughts. "Don't worry dear, you're in no trouble. I just wanted to talk to you."

Maureen was a little taken back from his words. "Talk about what?"

"While we were doing our little exercises, I was reading your mind. You were mainly thinking about the past and I wanted to talk to you about that. I want to discuss with what could happen to your abilities if you dwell on them too much," Charles admitted. "I know you have troubling thoughts, mainly it's about your father, correct?"

Maureen tensed at once. She wanted to lie and say no, but then she reminded that she was speaking to a telepath. "I suppose so."

"You've had a bad past with him," Charles guessed—no, he stated it.

"Yes," Maureen grumbled, her mood darkening already.

"He hurt your mother. He hurt you."

Maureen just glared, angry tears started to build up in her eyes.

"And what about it?" she shot at the older man in front of her rather angrily.

"I can understand where you're coming from, I didn't exactly have the nicest stepfather in the world," Charles admitted.

That caught Maureen. She thought—well actually, she hadn't really thought about Charles' childhood at all. He had a rough life too?

"Did he hit your mother in front of you?" Maureen asked in a quiet voice, as if she was that little girl again when she first experienced her abilities.

"No," said Charles. "But he had done things to me. The same can be said for my stepbrother."

Maureen never knew that the professor had a stepbrother.

"But Maureen, you must forgive and forget about your past relations to your father," the professor continued. "If you don't, your powers _will_ grow nonetheless, I promise you, but you will also be unstable."

That thought scared Maureen. If she was unstable, she could hurt people, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She did _not_ want to turn into her father.

"Unstable?" Maureen checked.

Charles nodded. "Yes. I believe your emotions are connected with your abilities of you combustion and freezing abilities, and possibly both your premonition and empathy abilities as well," he grinned. "You thought I didn't know about that?" She knew he was talking about the feeling-others-emotions bit, or empathy as he called it.

The young girl in front of him shrugged. "I was hoping. I just never thought about bringing it up."

Charles chuckled and for some reason, that rubbed Maureen off in the wrong way. A lot of things Charles did rubbed her off the wrong way.

"But you think my emotions are connected to my abilities? That would explain a lot, actually," Maureen confessed to the man in front of her. "Can we talk about this some other time, if you don't mind? I'm actually quite tired."

Charles thought about it momentarily, before nodding. "Of course, it's been a long day."

"Thank you, Professor," Maureen stood up, taking her leave.

Charles watched the young girl leave, and Maureen turned back to him, a thought lingering in her mind.

"Charles? Are we going to be in a war?"

* * *

Maureen was jogging around the mansion by herself. The others were out too, but they all went at different paces.

After Maureen and Charles had their conversation, Maureen had been trying really hard to not end up being unstable. She needed an anchor to keep herself in check, she figured. But who would be that anchor for her? Her mother? Her brother? Someone else? Maybe all of the above? She had no idea, and it scared her.

While she was pondering on her thoughts, still running, something whizzed by passed her, making her halt. She looked around, one arm extended slightly away from her body, the other near her chest. What was that? Before she could make any more speculations, she heard heavy, fast steps on the ground again. She looked behind her to see one of the boys running. When she realized who it was, she couldn't believe it.

"Hank?" she called to her sweet, shy friend, who grinned at her in response. Maureen was taken aback from this a little, but she gave him a small smile of encouragement back. He was actually listening to Charles! Maureen knew that Hank had little self confidence about himself. She and Raven had tried to talk to him (Maureen was sure that Raven tried to flirt with him more than not), and Charles obviously was too, but not a lot was really working with the young man. Maureen supposed that if her mutation also affected her physically on the outside, she would be even more insecure about herself than she already was.

"Hey Maureen," Hank greeted when he had stopped in front of the youngest member in the household, panting. "Did you see what I just did?" He sounded so giddy and happy it just_ had_ to make Maureen smile for him even more.

"You running around very fast? I did," Maureen responded, as they started to run again. Hank kept a slower pace for his little friend.

"How are you doing with Sean and Alex?" Maureen asked, trying to keep conversation. She knew Sean had trust issues with Hank since the "flying" incident and she knew that Hank was currently making a third or fourth prototype for Alex. Nothing was working for either boy so far.

"I'm still working on them," Hank explained. "Sean doesn't trust me and Alex keeps getting frustrated and calling me bozo."

Maureen's neutral expression had fallen when Hank mentioned the latter. "Don't mind Alex. He has issues. Between you and me, I think he has the same problem as you: self esteem issues."

They both stopped in their tracks and Hank gave her a look. "You think he has self esteem problems too?" he asked quietly. The way his voice sounded made Maureen think of Tommy, her little brother.

"Yes. You may not have the same issues exactly, but...Alex has had problems in the past," Maureen worded her answer carefully. She was sure Alex didn't want anyone to know about his incident when he was younger. "I think his time in prison affected him too. And while it's not okay for Alex to take his frustration out on you and being mean to you, it does give an explanation; if it helps."

The two said no more, Maureen's words sinking into Hank's mind.

* * *

Charles thought Maureen was ready to train again. He wanted to see how she can handle premonitions. Maureen had explained that most of the time, her visions came to her unexpectedly, whether she liked it or not.

"I had a premonition of Darwin's death, minutes before it happened," Maureen admitted. "And I couldn't have done anything about it. What good is it being able to foresee the future when you can't do anything about it?"

"You can learn from it," was the answer that came from Charles.

Charles had Maureen move around the house, touching objects to see if she could get a vision from anything. She had when she had touched a baseball bat. She had seen Charles and Raven first meeting in the kitchen. It was a sweet scene to see. She had also seen visions of Charles's other relatives; his mother, stepfather, and his stepbrother. She promised she would never tell anyone about it without Xavier's consent.

One vision in particular, made her wonder. She saw many children in the Xavier mansion, all having different abilities as if they were too mutants. (Maureen was positive that they _were_ mutants.) She saw an older version of herself and of her brother; she recognized Tommy's features almost immediately. There was another boy that was her brother's age in the vision with silver hair. She saw a young child who was raising their arms towards her, as if she would pick them up. There was a girl that looked as if she was in her preteen years. She had mocha colored skin and silver white hair. The young girl was looking up towards Maureen, as if they were close.

Maureen thought that she would have seen more but it was all too much. As soon as the vision ended, Maureen flashed back into reality hard, breathing heavily.

It seemed as if Maureen's future would be a good one, and she smiled.


End file.
